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Since 2003, analysts have conceptualized Iraqi politics from the standpoint of the national scene in Baghdad. From this perspective, power dynamics in Iraq are understood through the lens of a national quota-based system (called muhassasah in Arabic) that distributes ministries and oil revenues across the country's political groups according to ethno-sectarian allotments. Ignored in this national-level approach are the distinct arenas of political competition beyond the capital, where both national and subnational political actors struggle for control over local oil and gas fields, border crossings, and government contracts. This report focuses on three of Iraq's most strategically important governorates, Nineveh, Basra, and Diyala. Since 2003, political parties and their corresponding armed forces – in addition to international actors such as the US military – have vied for influence in the three provinces through locally distinct forms of clientelism and violence. The report tracks the key shifts in each political marketplace between 2003 and the present, paying particular attention to the evolving usages of violence and flows of political finance. Political power at the local level is constituted and maintained both through coercion and transactional deals. Opportunistic alliances often cut across ethno-sectarian lines, defying assumptions around post-2003 identity-based politics. The primacy of purchasing loyalties over providing services has led to poor governance and pervasive instability. In the short and medium term, the political marketplaces of Nineveh, Basra and Diyala are likely to witness particularly turbulent dynamics due to the global crash in oil prices related to the COVID-19 pandemic, driving the parties and armed groups controlling the three governorates to compete more uncompromisingly over non-oil forms of revenue generation. In light of such developments on the horizon, the newly installed government in Baghdad has an ever-decreasing set of options at its disposal. The report concludes with both country-wide and locally-specific policy implications.

This analysis lays a framework for greater collaboration between the cancer community and social scientists in both research and policy. We argue that the growing cancer burden that low- and middle-income countries face is raising social, political, and economic challenges of global cancer that require interdisciplinary research beyond the traditional biomedical-clinical nexus. First, we briefly review some of the most important existing social science studies that have addressed cancer in low- and middle-income countries, including the main methods, approaches, and findings of this research. Second, we give an overview of recent interdisciplinary collaborations between social scientists and oncologists and demonstrate how qualitative research can help us to understand the distinct challenges of cancer care in low- and middle-income settings. Finally, we identify key areas for future collaboration and suggest possible paths forward for cancer research and policy that involve social science.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction The Health Consequences of War -- Part I Afghanistan and Pakistan -- 1 Childbirth in the Context of Conflict in Afghanistan -- 2 Drone Strikes and Vaccination Campaigns How the War on Terror Helps Sustain Polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- 3 Remaining Undone Heroin in the Time of Serial War -- 4 Dignity under Extreme Duress The Moral and Emotional Landscape of Local Humanitarian Workers in the Afghan- Pakistan Border Areas -- Part II Iraq -- 5 War and the Public Health Disaster in Iraq -- 6 The Political Capital of War Wounds -- 7 Iraqis' Cancer Itineraries War, Medical Travel, and Therapeutic Geographies -- 8 War and Its Consequences for Cancer Trends and Services in Iraq -- Part III United States -- 9 Imagining Military Suicide -- 10 Afterwar Work for Life -- 11 "It's Not Okay" War's Toll on Health Brought Home to Communities and Environments -- Appendix The Body Count -- About the Editors -- About the Contributors -- Index